1910. | Red Blood Cells in Trypanosomiasis. 239 
infected with trypanosomiasis frequently exhibit a more or less marked 
degree of agglutination. Attention was first drawn to this phenomenon n 
1898 by Kanthack, Durham and Blandford,* who found that the red blood 
cells of animals infected with nagana, instead of forming rouleaux, tended 
to clump together into masses and to lose their outlines. 
More recently Christyt (1904), Dutton and Toddt (1905), Martin, Lebceut 
and Roubaud§ (1906-8), and others have described a similar condition in 
fresh preparations of the blood of patients suffering from Sleeping Sickness. 
Dutton and Todd,|| referring to this condition of the blood, wrote: “ Only 
once have we had the opportunity of observing a patient (European) from 
whose blood trypanosomes, once present, have finally disappeared. In this 
instance auto-agglutination of the red cells disappeared with the parasites. 
Later, it has been noted by many investigators{/ that the phenomenon 
eradually disappears in animals after the successful drug treatment of the 
disease. 
In spite of the fact that auto-agglutination of the red cells in trypanosomal 
infections has attracted so much attention, very little work appears to have 
been done with a view to determining the nature of the changes in the blood 
which lead to its manifestation. Most of the workers have contented them- 
selves with simply recording the presence of the phenomenon. So far as 
have been able to ascertain from a search of the literature, only two authors 
mention any details regarding the mechanism of its production. 
Kanthack, Durham and Blandford stated that the serum of the blood of 
animals exhibiting auto-agglutination, when added to normal blood o the 
same species of animal, caused the red corpuscles to clump together. On the 
other hand, at a recent meeting of the Society of Tropical Medicine and 
Hygiene, in the discussion following Dr. Bagshawe’s paper on “ Recent 
* “On Nagana or Tsetse Fly Disease,” ‘ Roy. Soc. Proc.,’ 1898, vol. 64, p. 100. 
t+ “Sleeping Sickness,” ‘ British Medical Journal,’ 1904, p. 1456. 
{t “Gland Puncture in Trypanosomiasis,” ‘Memoir of the Liverpool School of Tropical 
Medicine,’ 1905, No. 16, p. 99. 
§ ‘Rapport de la Mission d’Etudes de la Maladie du Sommeil au Congo Frangais,’ 
1906—8, p. 281." 
|| Loc. cect. 
“ Thomas and Breinl, “ Pathology and Treatment of Trypanosomiasis,” ‘Memoir of 
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine,’ 1905, No. 16. 
Mensil, Nicolle, and Aubert, “ Recherches sur le Traitement des Infections Expéri- 
mentales a 7. gambiense,” ‘ Annales de l'Institut Pasteur,’ 1907, vol. 21, p. 1. 
Laveran and Thiroux, “Sur le Traitement des Trypanosomiases,” ‘ Bulletin Soc. Path. 
Exot.,’ 1908, p. 28. 
Martin and Darré, “Sur les Symptémes Nerveux du Début de la Maladie du Sommeil,” 
‘Bulletin Soc. Path. Exot.,’ 1908, p. 15. 
VOL, LXXXIII.—B. Ab 
